Tag: vegetables

Choosing a nutritionist can be a tough decision to make. With all of the diet advice and vitamin choices it gets confusing real fast. To help you decide here are two simple things to remember when choosing your diet yogi.

Bumpy Ride

Any good nutritionist will tell you right away that food science is shaky at best. We are in a period of unprecedented period diet related diseases including the leading killers in America. The obesity and diabetes epidemics are raging across the country. There is definitely something wrong and it may just be “the latest study shows” lifestyle we have become accustomed to.

For example, take a look at these two images from David McCandless who took the time to research and compare a large portion of the studies on nutrition.

The first image shows vitamins, minerals, nutrients of no proven value.

Every single item in this picture has no evidence proving its value for health. Now, I’m not saying this is definitive or I am an expert, I’m just saying food science is shaky. Take a look at the next picture to see the ones with conflicting evidence:

There are so many on this list that many would consider absolutely essential to health and yet the studies have not shown that yet. The question is then, where we getting this proof from, is it social proof, marketing proof?

One better make sure to ask any nutritionist about this before making major changes.

It’s the Food, Stupid!

Like the Bill Clinton’s ringing catchphrase, it’s about the economy, stupid! In the world of nutrition its all about the food and no amount of pills, supplements, or working out can replace it. The right nutritionist will make sure to talk with you about this and ask you to focus on the quality of the food you are eating.

Quality is an essential element to food, but many would have you believe that selection is more important. All to often the advice will be to eat less meat and more vegetables. Or, you have a deficiency of XX so you should eat more of YY. This can be extremely problematic especially if one is always selecting low quality food.

A good nutritionist will provide expert advice on how to find quality food. They will tell you about the difference between supermarket vegetables and farmers market vegetables (I have yet to find one doing this). With the difference being extreme, sometimes as much as three times worse for you. Supermarket vegetables are grown for hardiness and long lasting at the expense of nutrition. Whereas farmers market vegetables are grown from high quality seeds (called heritage seeds), grown in specific seasons to maximize nutritional value and sold as fresh as possible to capitalize on the vitamins/minerals before they degrade.

The same type of story can be told for fruits, nuts, meats, cheese; for everything you eat. Eating quality food can often make or break a health routine. After all quality food not only tastes better but provides more nutrition per ounce. This means that you will need to eat less to feel full and meet your nutritional needs (i.e. lose weight).

Further, studies are showing that seasonal, fresh, and high quality food contains not only more nutrients but extra ones too. It might be possible that one can get all the calcium they need from fresh, seasonal broccoli and avoid the need for all those calcium pills, soy cartons, and expensive seafood.

Make sure to choose a nutritionist who understands food quality and makes it an important part of their advice.

Conclusion

I’m not a doctor nor a nutritionist but I have spent the past year studying these issues for my own personal health and for this non-profit. I have talked to hundreds of people, including doctors and nutritionists. Only a handful of them even consider what I wrote about in this post, even though they seem like common sense.

These issues are common sense to me and I hope they help you to choose the right nutritionist.

Alexandria, Virginia has two Saturday markets, one Sunday market, and a Wednesday evening market. The Old Town market is an institution in front of City Hall open all year round. While the Del Ray market is quintessential Alexandria located in a nestle of local shops, cute little houses, and plenty of locals walking around.

If you looking for more markets Arlington has six more that are not too far away with some open during the week (tues, thurs). You can find those lower on the page along with the DC markets and our Farmers Market Brochure.

A visit to Long Beach is always exciting for me. I love its small city charm mixed in with the grit of its bigger city (LA) next door. The downtown farmers market was no different.

Some details on the market is that its open from 9-4 on Fridays and is at Long Beach Blvd and 5th Street next to the Walmart in a big shopping center. They shut down two full roads of traffic for the vendors which means their are a lot of them. The vendors range from east asian farmers to regular farmers, jamaican art dealers to watch and jewelry repair. It’s safe to say that you have many options at this market.

Some quick items that struck my fancy…there are numerous vendors selling cooked food. These restaurants on the go were nearly everywhere and not something you usually see at a farmers markets…If you want to buy a vegetable, wait on it, there are so many options you are bound to get a better deal as you walk…and brush up or practice your spanish, this is a good place to talk to friendly bilingual farmers.

Definitely visit this market if you get a chance!

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A farmers market in San Francisco by Swami Stream on Flickr

Huntington Beach

I did not have high expectations for the Huntington Beach farmers market. I assumed their would be more art vendors than food ones. I was pleasantly suprised, though, we found more food vendors and even caught an acrobatic show on the pier right afterwards.

The market is open on Fridays from 1-5 and is open all year round. You can find it next to the pier, northside. It is a small market but just right for me. Some prefer larger ones with more selection and the ability to shop around. Not me, I like just the right amount of vendors where its small enough to have a friendly chat with each one.

As Spence and I shopped around we noticed that many of the vendors here were the same ones at the downtown LB market. Strange but I guess they are getting big-time in the markets. Anyway, there were a variety of food options including honey, mediterranean, fish, mexican, bread, and nuts in addition to the multiple produce vendors.

As always there were art vendors and goods for sale. Many of them quite beautiful. We were on limited time and so had to skip that this time.

The best benefit of this market for me is that its close to where I live and there’s nothing like shopping for food on the beach. This may become my go-to market.